Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux quotes:

Of all the animals which fly in the air, walk on the land, or swim in the sea, from Paris to Peru, from Japan to Rome, the most foolish animal in my opinion is man.

However big the fool, there is always a bigger fool to admire him.

The dreadful burden of having nothing to do.

But satire, ever moral, ever new, Delights the reader and instructs him, too. She, if good sense refine her sterling page, Oft shakes some rooted folly of the age.

Hasten slowly, and without losing heart, put your work twenty times upon the anvil. [Fr., Hatez-vous lentement; et, sans perdre courage, Vingt fois sur le metier remettez votre ouvrage.]

He who cannot limit himself will never know how to write.

Though you be sprung in direct line from Hercules, if you show a lowborn meanness, that long succession of ancestors whom you disgrace are so many witnesses against you; and this grand display of their tarnished glory but serves to make your ignominy more evident.

That which is repeated too often becomes insipid and tedious.

Time flies and draws us with it. The moment in which I am speaking is already far from me.

A burlesque word is often a powerful sermon.

At times truth may not seem probable.

At times truth may not seem probable. [Fr., Le vrai peut quelquefois n'etre pas vraisemblable.]

Bring your work back to the workshop twenty times. Polish it continuously, and polish it again.

Gold lends a touch of beauty even to the ugly.

Greatest fools are the most often satisfied.

If your descent is from heroic sires, Show in your life a remnant of their fires.

It is in vain a daring author thinks of attaining to the heights of Parnassus if he does not feel the secret influence of heaven and if his natal star has not formed him to be a poet.

No one who cannot limit himself has ever been able to write.

A fool always finds one still more foolish to admire him. [Fr., Un sot trouve toujours un plus sot qui l'admire.]

A fool can always find a greater fool who admires him.

A fop sometimes gives important advice.

A proud bigot, who is vain enough to think that he can deceive even God by affected zeal, and throwing the veil of holiness over vices, damns all mankind by the word of his power.

A warmed-up dinner was never worth much.

All men are fools, and with every effort they differ only in the degree.

Every age has its pleasures, its style of wit, and its own ways.

Everything that poverty touches becomes frightful.

Gold gives an appearance of beauty even to ugliness: but with poverty everything becomes frightful.

Happy the poet who with ease can steer From grave to gay, from lively to severe. [Lat., Heureux qui, dans ses vers, sait d'une voix legere Passer du grave au doux, du plaisant au severe.]

Happy who in his verse can gently steer From grave to light, from pleasant to severe.

He [Moliere] pleases all the world, but can- not please himself.

Honor is like an island, rugged and without a beach; once we have left it, we can never return.

Honor is like an island, rugged and without shores; we can never re-enter it once we are on the outside. [Fr., L'honneur est comme une ile escarpee et sans bords; On n'y peut plus rentrer des qu'on en est dehors.]

Ignorance is always ready to admire itself. Procure yourself critical friends.

In spite of every sage whom Greece can show, Unerring wisdom never dwelt below; Folly in all of every age we see, The only difference lies in the degree.

It is the sin which we have not committed which seems the most monstrous.

Let a single complete action, in one place and one day, keep the theatre packed to the last.

Nature always springs to the surface and manages to show what she is. It is vain to stop or try to drive her back. She breaks through every obstacle, pushes forward, and at last makes for herself a way.

Nothing but truth is lovely, nothing fair.

Nothing is really beautiful but truth, and truth alone is lovely.

Now two punctilious envoys, Thine and Mine Embroil the earth about a fancied line; And, dwelling much on right and much on wrong, Prove how the right is chiefly with the strong.

Of all the creatures that creep, swim, or fly, Peopling the earth, the waters, and the sky, From Rome to Iceland, Paris to Japan, I really think the greatest fool is man.

Of every four words I write, I strike out three.

Often the fear on one evil leads us into a worse.

Praising an honest person who doesn't deserve it, always wounds them.

Some excel in rhyme who reason foolishly.

Something of calumny always sticks.

Sometimes a fool makes a good suggestion.

The greatest fools are oft the most satisfied.

The wisest man is generally he who thinks himself the least so.

The wisest man is he who does not fancy that he is so at all.

The world is full of fools; and he who would not wish to see one, must not only shut himself up alone, but must also break his looking-glass.

To support those of your rights authorized by Heaven, destroy everything rather than yield; that is the spirit of the Church.

Truth has not such an urgent air.

Virtue alone is the unerring sign of a noble soul.

What is conceived well is expressed clearly.

Whate'er is well conceived is clearly said, And the words to say it flow with ease.

Whatever we conceive well we express clearly, and words flow with ease. [Fr., Ce que l'on concoit bien s'enonce clairement, Et les mots pour le dire arrivent aisement.]

Whatever we well understand we express clearly, and words flow with ease.

When we envy another, we make their virtue our vice.

Who is content with nothing possesses all things.

Who lives content with little possesses everything.

With poverty everything becomes frightful.

Attach yourself to those who advise you rather than praise you.

A fool always finds a greater fool to admire him.